Accused murderer Charles Hicks will face the death penalty in his September trial for the murder and dismemberment of Deanna Null. The Monroe County District Attorney's Office announced at Hicks' formal arraignment Tuesday the death sentence is sought because the murder and dismemberment constitute "aggravating circumstances."

STROUDSBURG — The January murder and dismemberment of Deanna Marie Null constitute aggravating circumstances on which the District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against Charles Hicks, who is charged with killing Null.

Hicks, 34, of Tobyhanna, was formally arraigned Tuesday in Monroe County Court, during which he entered a not-guilty plea and was placed on the September trial term.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso told the court that the D.A.’s Office cites the murder, dismemberment and scattering of Null’s body parts in trash bags along Interstates 380 and 80 as aggravating circumstances. Mancuso said this is the reason the office last week filed a notice of intention to seek the death penalty.

Null, a mother who lived at various addresses including Williamsport, was last seen alive in Scranton in mid-January, getting into a car that matches the description of Hicks’ vehicle, according to a police affidavit.

Hicks told police he met Null in Scranton, when he went there looking for “girls to hang out with,” according to the affidavit. He said he smoked crack cocaine with her and gave her money in exchange for sex on more than one occasion, but didn’t kill her.

He said he was scared to come forward after learning she had been murdered because he figured she had been killed over drugs and that he himself might be in danger. He also told police he had been prescribed psychiatric medication in the past, according to the affidavit.

Police testified at a March preliminary hearing that they had searched Hicks’ home in early March and found evidence including Null’s severed hands, plastic trash bags and a saw.